It is finished!

Star Strands ~ Awakening is now finished.  I still have to through and edit it, but the story itself is complete.  I can’t tell you how much fun I had writing this book and I hope I’m able to write many more.  The feeling of completing my first book is overwhelming.  I’m excited and nervous at the same time, but I’m sure that I will continue to write even if I fall flat on my face with this book.  I would like to thank my family and friends for the support they’ve given me and of course a special thanks to my father who got me interested in books in the first place.  Without him, I would have never started writing.  Thank you, Dad!

Now that I've finished the book, it shouldn't be too long before I'm back on here.  Thank you and goodnight.

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You must be unhappy.

I always get annoyed when someone says, "You don't believe in God?!  You must be unhappy with your life."  Like believing in a god is the only way to be happy with your life.  I hate to tell you, but I'm actually quite happy with the way my life as turned out so far.  I don't ask myself why God would bad things happen to me when something doesn't go the way I'd like it to.  I don't think people are going to spend forever in a place of torture for believing differently than I do.  I don't get offended when someone post a religious photo on Facebook or Twitter.  I feel the need to go to a stranger's door at 8pm and tell they're living their life wrong because they don't believe as I do.  I don't have a holy book that I live my life by and have to pick and choose the good parts to get people to believe as I do.  All in all, I'm happy and content with my life.

Sure, I'd like some things to be different, but I don't pray for a change.  If I want something in my life to change, I do my best to change it.  I don't get on my knees and talk to an invisible father figure and try to make him change his perfect plan.  I can read a book and not get offended because it has a gay wizard in it.   I've found that when I don't have a supernatural being to forgive me for my wrong doing, I'm more apt to be more careful not to do wrong.  I find comfort in knowing that my dead loved ones aren't in a burning pit because they may have picked the wrong god.  I'm not ashamed to say that I don't know it all.  I strong enough to not be fearful of the things that I don't know. 

It scares me when people ask me why I don't go around killing, raping, and stealing all day.  Is that the only reason you don't do bad things?  Because you think you'd spend forever in a burning pit of hellfire?  Seems like a stressful life.  I mean, how do you if you picked the right denomination?  What if you picked the wrong god?  It just seems like a lot of worry.  The way I see it, if you live a good life, then your actions will live long after you die.  Just try not be an ass.

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Rape

I hate it when I see someone talking about a rape victim's clothes instead the of the person that raped her.  I personally think that the clothes a woman wears doesn't mean she's wanting to be raped.  Just because a person is wanting attention, doesn't mean she's wanting to be raped.  Now, I've never been one to wear something that show off anything, but I'm as big as a cow.  Nobody would want to see that.  I know I wouldn't.  When I read about someone being raped, I never think, "What was she wearing?".  Never.  Because it shouldn't matter what she's wearing.  For those that think rape is based on what a woman wears, you're an idiot.  Rape will happen even the victim is wearing overalls.  If someone's got it in there mind to force themselves on another, the clothes the person's wearing isn't what sets them off.  It's already in their head. 
The victim has already been through a lot, without people saying she asked for it by the clothes she was wearing.  She had no choice in the matter.  Instead of telling women they need to wear this or that to avoid being raped, we need to be teaching that rape is something that shouldn't be done!  It's not the victim's fault she was raped.  The fault lies with the attacker.  He was the one that forced himself onto her.  He was the one the committed the crime.  He's the one that should be punished, not the victim.  Instead of blaming the victim, we need to be trying to help them.  There's a lot of mental pain to go along with the physical pain.  If it was a member of your family, would you tell her that she was raped because of the clothes she was wearing, or would try to get her attacker behind bars?  What if  it was your daughter, mother, sister, or aunt?  Would you still be so blind?

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I don't claim to be something I'm not.  I know who and what I am.  I may not be proud of everything that has happened in my lie, but I don't deny that it has happened.  I know my flaws, weaknesses, and issues, but I don't let them run my life.  I will be strong in the years to come with the help of my family and friends.  I'm grateful for them all.  Everyone in my life has had a part in making me who I am today and I'm better because of it.  My father has given me the knowledge I need to question what I believe, look at the evidence, and make a sound decision.  My mother has given me my stubborn nature to never give up even when I'm on my knees.  My grandmother has shown me how to survive when a loved one passes.  My brother has shown me how to step back and think before I speak.  My husband has shown me what it means to always put family first.  My kids have shown me how to truly laugh.  While we don't always agree, we show our love for each other in our own way.  We have our strengths and help each other out in times of weakness.
The best part of family is that they're always there when you need them.  There's no way I can thank them enough for the strength they've given me through the years.  I don't know everything about my family, nor do they know everything about me.  We don't need to know everything to love and help each other out.  The only thing we need to know is that someone needs help and if we are able to give it, we do.  It breaks my heart to see someone that doesn't have a good relationship with their family simply because they disagree on one issue.  I don't think people like me know how lucky we are to have an understanding family until we talk to someone that doesn't have that.  It's hard for me to understand how a parent can disown their child because they don't share the religion.  I just can't justify disowning my kids if they become religious when they're older.
Things like that just shouldn't happen in this day and age.  We should be past that by now.  We should be able to accept people for who they are, not what they're dressed like, the color of their skin, their gender, sexual preference, or religion.  I just can't understand why people feel like their better than someone else because of they 'know' their religion is true and the others are false.  I'm just one more person that thinks we all should be able to get along and not fight over which supernatural belief is better.  It just doesn't make any sense.

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